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Blatter blasts soccer's 'pornographic' riches
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-13 06:12
LONDON: FIFA president Sepp Blatter launched a scathing attack yesterday on
hugely wealthy players and club owners, saying the "pornographic" amounts of
money available at the top tiers of football risked wrecking the sport.
Blatter, head of football's global governing body, also lambasted the greed
of "semi-educated" players, promising a FIFA taskforce to curb the sport's
excesses.
In an outspoken article for the London-based Financial Times newspaper,
Blatter noted that football was now a hugely lucrative global business.
"Unfortunately, the haphazard way in which money has flowed into the game -
reminiscent of a misguided, wild west style of capitalism - is having some
seriously harmful effects," he said.
While many teams were poor, "a few fortunate clubs" were richer than ever
thanks to benevolent owners, Blatter noted, seemingly taking a swipe at the
likes of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil billionaire who owns English
Premiership champions Chelsea.
"What makes this a matter for concern is that, all too often, the source of
this wealth is individuals with little or no history of interest in the game,
who have happened upon football as a means of serving some hidden agenda,"
Blatter wrote.
"Having set foot in the sport seemingly out of nowhere they proceed to throw
pornographic amounts of money at it.
"What they do not understand is that football is more about
grassroots than idols."
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